Descriptors

Descriptors contain metadata or high level data about ITNCM - Base Resources and are frequently used as parameters for method calls that perform search, fetch, move, rename, and delete operations.

Resource information typically includes Resource name, Resource key, Data type, Realm the resource is located in, Created by and last modified by, Created date and last modified date and VTMOS data when applicable. The following list identifies two general categories of ResourceDescriptors:

  • ResourceContentDescriptors — Refer to generalized resources and NetworkResources.
  • ResourceContainerDescriptors — Refer to Realms. ResourceContainerDescriptors contain lists of ResourceContainerDescriptors and ResourceContentDescriptors; these are the child Descriptors that refer to Resources in the Realm. Typically when a ResourceContainerDescriptor is initially retrieved from the ITNCM - Base server, these lists may be sparsely populated (or may contain no data at all).

Calling any of the overloaded GetContainerOnly methods when fetching a ResourceContainerDescriptor will insure that no child Descriptors are returned. Calling getContainer( ResourceContainerDescriptor descriptor) will return an instance of the passed in ResourceContainerDescriptor with the child Descriptor list populated.